The State of Federal Contractor Integrity · 2026
What the federal public record says about contractor integrity in 2026
As of the federal records queried 2026-06-20, the U.S. government held 324,126 active exclusion records from 56 agencies — and just three of them (HHS, OPM, OFAC) issued 90.15% of the registry. Separately, on the currently ingested award set, 112 distinct federal prime contracts totalling $1,601,819 were signed while the same confirmed recipient held an active exclusion, across 21 entities. These are aggregate counts and dated public facts; no individual or business is named.
Key findings
Six standalone, attributable findings — each lifts cleanly out of context, each links to the component study it is drawn from and that study's reproducible SQL.
1. Per Fonteum's analysis of the SAM.gov Exclusions registry, the U.S. government held 324,126 active federal exclusion records from 56 excluding agencies as of June 2026.
Source: Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard · re-derivable from the published SQL.
2. Three agencies issue almost the entire federal exclusion registry: HHS (42.39%), OPM (24.97%), and OFAC (22.79%) together account for 292,197 of the 324,126 active records — 90.15% of the total.
Source: Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard · re-derivable from the published SQL.
3. Federal debarment overwhelmingly names people, not companies: individuals make up 79.76% of active federal exclusions while excluded firms are just 5.01%.
Source: Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard · re-derivable from the published SQL.
4. Per Fonteum's reconciliation of USASpending prime awards against the active SAM.gov exclusion window, 112 distinct federal contracts totalling $1,601,819.41 were signed while the same confirmed recipient held an active exclusion, across 21 entities on the currently ingested set.
Source: The Leakage Report · re-derivable from the published SQL.
5. Only 48.3% of active federal exclusion records (156,544 of 324,126) carry a parseable activation date in the public extract — a date-coverage gap that bounds any time-series of when exclusions were issued.
Source: Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard · re-derivable from the published SQL.
6. Federal eligibility and exclusion are linked by rule: under 13 CFR 124.108, an active SAM.gov exclusion ends a firm's 8(a) Business Development eligibility — the certification opens sole-source contracts, the exclusion shuts them.
Source: 8(a) certification, explained · re-derivable from the published SQL.
At a glance
The exclusion registry — concentrated in three agencies
The federal exclusion registry is not evenly spread across government. Of 324,126 active records, HHS, OPM, and OFAC issued 292,197 (90.15%). The eight largest issuers are below; the full per-agency ranking and the breakdowns by exclusion type, classification, and activation year are in the Scorecard.
| Rank | Excluding agency (code) | Active exclusions | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HHS | 137,396 | 42.39% |
| 2 | OPM | 80,948 | 24.97% |
| 3 | OFAC | 73,853 | 22.79% |
| 4 | DOJ | 6,490 | 2.00% |
| 5 | HUD | 4,464 | 1.38% |
| 6 | EPA | 4,375 | 1.35% |
| 7 | No agency recorded | 4,335 | 1.34% |
| 8 | USN | 1,736 | 0.54% |
Individuals are 79.76% of active exclusions; firms are 5.01%. Full breakdowns: the Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard →
Awards signed during an active exclusion
When a federal prime award is signed while its recipient holds an active SAM.gov exclusion, that co-occurrence is a matter of public record. On the currently ingested set, 112 such awards totalling $1,601,819 are on file across 21 entities — shown here only in aggregate, by awarding agency.
| Awarding agency | Awards | Obligated |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | 36 | $1,231,667 |
| Department of Agriculture | 21 | $210,208 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | 48 | $100,126 |
| Department of State | 1 | $16,250 |
| Department of the Treasury | 1 | $16,178 |
| Department of Homeland Security | 1 | $12,232 |
| Department of Justice | 1 | $9,645 |
| Department of the Interior | 3 | $5,513 |
This study reflects the awards and exclusions currently ingested — a bounded, partial set, not the full federal corpus. On the current set, 112 distinct prime award(s) totalling $1,601,819.41 were signed during an active exclusion window for the same confirmed recipient. Coverage expands as more of the confirmed-excluded recipient set is backfilled.
Per-entity timelines and the full join are in the Leakage Report.
Eligibility and exclusion are linked by rule
The two sides of this report meet in the rulebook. Under 13 CFR 124.108, debarred or suspended concerns — and concerns owned by debarred or suspended persons — are ineligible for the SBA's 8(a) Business Development program, and an active exclusion can be grounds to terminate a current participant. The certification opens sole-source federal contracts; an active SAM.gov exclusion shuts them.
8(a) certification, explained — eligibility, the nine-year term, and the debarment rule →
Check a specific contractor
This roundup names no entity. To check the dated record on a specific contractor — its SAM.gov exclusions and USASpending prime awards — use the per-entity records or screen by identifier:
- Look up a federal contractor's exclusion & award record →
- Screen a contractor by UEI or CAGE (procurement API) →
- Federal contracting questions, answered from the public record →
Need this as a screening feed or a point-in-time evidence pull for diligence, credentialing, or audit? Fonteum runs the same source-stamped, reproducible records as an API. Request pilot access →
Methodology
This roundup is a synthesis, not a new query. It composes two reproducible component studies that each ship their own SQL sidecar and committed snapshot:
- The Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard aggregates every row of the SAM.gov Exclusions extract by excluding agency, exclusion type, classification, and activation year — plain
GROUP BYcounts againstpublic.sam_exclusions. - The Leakage Reportreports federal prime awards whose signed (action) date fell inside an exclusion's active window for the same confirmed entity, joined on a confirmed exact key (UEI or CAGE) only:
activation_date ≤ action_date AND (termination_date IS NULL OR termination_date > action_date).
The page reads the committed snapshot of each study at build time, so the roundup's figures always equal the figures on the studies it links to. Nothing here is inferred; there is no risk score and no entity is named.
Reproduce it
Re-derive every figure on this page from the published artifacts:
- Reproducible SQL — the composed queries, with expected-result comments matching the committed snapshots.
- Download JSON · Download CSV — the roundup snapshot and its key findings.
- Component SQL: scorecard.sql · leakage.sql
Limitations
- The exclusion registry is the currently-active set only. SAM.gov drops terminated (lifted) exclusions from the public file, so this is not a historical time series of every exclusion ever issued. Only 48.3% of active records carry a parseable activation date.
- The leakage figures are bounded to the awards and exclusions currently ingested — a partial set, not the full federal corpus. Coverage expands as the targeted award backfill grows.
- A co-occurrence of dated facts is not a determination of wrongdoing. Some awards signed during an exclusion window are lawful (pre-existing obligations or specific waivers); confirm each case at the source.
- The roundup reflects the committed snapshot date and is not a live read. Exclusion and award records change over time — confirm any specific entity's current status at SAM.gov.
Sources
U.S. federal public records (U.S. Government Works, public domain). The exclusion registry is the SAM.gov Exclusions file (General Services Administration); award history is USASpending.gov (DATA Act public domain). The 8(a) rule is 13 CFR Part 124 (Small Business Administration).
Source: SAM.gov exclusion extract, pulled 2026-06-18. Confirm current status at SAM.gov →
Source: USASpending.gov award record, pulled 2026-06-17.
Frequently asked questions
What is the State of Federal Contractor Integrity report?
It is Fonteum's annual roundup of what the U.S. federal public record says about contractor integrity — who the government has excluded, how concentrated that registry is by agency, and how many prime contracts were signed while a recipient held an active exclusion. The 2026 edition bundles two reproducible studies (the Federal Suspension & Debarment Scorecard and the Leakage Report) plus the 8(a) eligibility rule. It reports aggregate counts and exact dated facts only; it names no party and assigns no score.
How many active federal exclusions are there, and who issues them?
As queried on 2026-06-20, the SAM.gov Exclusions registry held 324,126 active records from 56 excluding agencies. Three — HHS (42.39%), OPM (24.97%), and OFAC (22.79%) — together issued 292,197 of them, or 90.15% of the registry.
How many contracts were awarded during an active exclusion?
On the currently ingested award set, 112 distinct federal prime contracts totalling $1,601,819 were signed while the same confirmed recipient held an active SAM.gov exclusion, across 21 entities. Each is a co-occurrence of two dated facts — an award's signed date and an exclusion's active window — not a finding of wrongdoing.
Does this report name any contractor as a wrongdoer?
No. The roundup is aggregate-only. It reports registry counts by agency, type, classification, and year, plus the headline totals for awards signed during an active exclusion. No individual or business is named anywhere in it. A co-occurrence of dated public facts is not a determination of wrongdoing.
How can I reproduce these numbers?
Every figure is re-derivable in Postgres from the published SQL linked on this page, which composes the two component studies' own SQL sidecars against the public SAM.gov Exclusions registry and the procurement award/exclusion tables. The roundup reads the committed component snapshots, so its numbers always match the studies it cites.
Will there be a 2027 edition?
Yes. The slug carries the year, so each annual edition is a separate, citable page rather than an overwrite — the 2026 figures stay fixed and quotable while the franchise updates each year against the latest registry and award data.
Part of the Fonteum government procurement evidence silo. Component studies: Debarment Scorecard, Leakage Report, 8(a) guide.